The UK government recently published their 2023 edition of the National Risk Register (NRR).
This document is a summary of the most serious risks facing our country.
The risks identified are then grouped into 9 core risk themes.
Can you guess what the #1 top risk is?
🧵
So here’s the Risk Matrix for the UK. It plots the likelihood vs impact for each key risk.
There’s one that stands out from the crowd…
Number 54.
Its impact is great enough to be considered ‘catastrophic’ & its likelihood is considerably higher than other catastrophic risks.
Here’s the key 👇🏻
Let’s see how long it takes you to find that ‘riskiest of all risks’, number 54.
Ah look, there it is…
Number 54.
The riskiest of all risks.
‘PANDEMIC’
Surprise, surprise.
To summarise:
The National Risk Register (NRR) documents the most serious risks facing our country.
It has identified ‘Pandemics’ as being the number 1 risk facing the UK.
So what’s the point of this Risk Register?
This is explained in the foreword:
“We are giving businesses & other organisations as much information as possible about the risks they face, so that they can use this knowledge to support their own planning, preparation and response.”
So if the whole point of the risk register is to help the UK with its preparedness to tackle the key risks identified…
…and the number one key risk identified is ‘pandemics’…
…why the hell aren’t we doing more to prepare for it?
The current pandemic is far from over & the government are already doing a pretty poor job of handling that one.
They’ve installed enhanced air filtration systems in Parliament, MoD & DfE HQ…
…but refused to install air filters in schools, hospitals & other public spaces.
They’ve systematically dismantled & obfuscated the entire Covid data surveillance system to the point where no one can be quite clear on what’s going on…
They’ve massively reduced the eligibility criteria for the Covid vaccine and are using up older outdated vaccines rather than investing in the new updated XBB vaccine used in the US, Canada and many other countries.
They’re encouraging children with symptoms of Covid to come to school anyway and spread it to all of their classmates & teachers, starting countless new chains of transmission.
Last Autumn term (2022/23), 12.4% of all pupils missed 10% or more sessions due to illness alone.
The National Risk Register includes a section specifically addressing the Covid pandemic.
It reiterates that:
“The most significant risk to materialise in the UK has been the COVID-19 pandemic. This has impacted all aspects of society & will have consequences into the future.”
It goes on to say:
“The risk of a pandemic has long been identified as one of the most serious risks facing the UK.”
…and…
“The lessons from COVID-19 have been incorporated into the government's risk assessment methodology.”
Uh oh. 😳
Seriously though, if pandemics really are the number one risk facing the UK, why on earth aren’t we investing in clear air technologies, like improved ventilation & air filtration, NOW?
…particularly in places like schools and hospitals?
Analysis of NHS data by the RCEM, shows that from Jun-Sep 2025, over HALF A MILLION patients had an A&E stay of over 12 hours from their time of arrival in England.
This is MORE than the entire winter of 2021-22, during which the UK experienced one of the worst Covid waves.
In the latest weekly figures, there were 188 people Covid deaths across the UK.
“It's an uncontroversial statement from an epidemiological point of view to say that improving ventilation in schools would be a good thing […] The advantages of ventilation are very substantial.”
So why aren’t we doing it?
Data from the national schools air quality monitoring project (SAMHE) shows that ventilation rates in schools drop to just 3.8 litres per sec per person in colder weather.
This is far BELOW the minimum UK guidance of 5-8 litres per sec per person.
For more clips from Prof Chris Whitty’s appearance at the Covid Inquiry today, please take a look at this excellent thread from Clinically Vulnerable Families (@cv_cev):
Why do schools need to tackle poor VENTILATION in classrooms?
Because nationwide monitoring of UK classrooms shows that ventilation drops to appallingly low levels when outdoor temperatures drop & windows are closed.
Poor ventilation means airborne viruses spread like wildfire.
Meanwhile, more than 500 children a day in England are being referred to NHS mental health services for anxiety, more than DOUBLE the pre-pandemic rate…
…and yet, the impact of repeated COVID infections on children is never even considered as a contributing factor.